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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29169717">Where Gods and Monsters Meet</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FudgingPastry/pseuds/FudgingPastry'>FudgingPastry</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Price I Pay to Keep You Safe [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>DreamSMP, DreamSMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Caliginous Romance | Kismesis, Canon-Typical Violence, Implied Sexual Content, Kissing, M/M, Minor Violence, Non-Human!Dream, Slight Canon Divergence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 18:48:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,054</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29169717</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FudgingPastry/pseuds/FudgingPastry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>They stood in silence, their backs to the walls as they faced each other. If one took a step in one direction, the other followed in suit, effectively circling each other. As Technoblade looked over his old partner, his grin faded the longer he looked. He could read Dream easily, guess his next steps, gauge his reactions, and even guess his expression beneath that cracked mask. Technoblade realized with growing concern that isolation was affecting Dream more than expected.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clay | Dream/Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Price I Pay to Keep You Safe [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2176035</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>547</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Completed stories I've read</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Where Gods and Monsters Meet</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first DreamSMP fic and I wanted to clear up a few things first:<br/>1) This fic is based on the characters in the DreamSMP, not the content creators. Any views expressed in this fic are not a reflection of the content creators in any shape or form.<br/>2) For those of you not familiar with the relationship dynamics introduced in Homestuck, here's a general definition for Kismesisstude, in which this fic is based on: people involved in kismesisstude/pitch romance are arch-rivals. While they may fight and challenge each other, they also respect each other.<br/>3) Dream is Not Human and this is a headcanon.</p><p>If you're cool with all of the above, I hope you enjoy this fic! &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Technoblade gazed up at the prison. The design was elegant, pristine, foreboding. Darkness resided there, amongst the obsidian and marble. He remembered Tommy’s retelling of his visit. More rivers of lava in one place than they saw in all of the Nether. A spot of hell above ground, held together by cold and unfeeling black. Techno pressed his lips together, hiked up the axe resting on his shoulder, and strode forward. He found Sam behind his desk, a book open on the lectern awaiting his signature and promise to behave.</p><p>“What is your relationship with the prisoner?” Sam’s voice brought him up away from the voices buzzing in his skull. Technoblade blinked at Sam, then raised his gaze to the ceiling stories high above his head as if he’d find the words hidden in the cracks and shadows. His relationship with Dream was… complicated to say the least. He respected him, with all that happened in the past. Though, recently, that had been called into question. He did not particularly like him. Well… No, yes, that was correct. But Dream and his goals had aligned in the past. He pressed his lips together as his gaze flicked back down to Sam, who was waiting patiently for his answer.</p><p>“We were business partners for a while, but after… L’Manberg, we were not. Would I like to kill him? Potentially, yes, I would. But not today.”</p><p>“Do you believe he was rightfully imprisoned?”</p><p>“Yes,” Technoblade replied with little consideration and little hesitation. Once the questions were complete and the book agreed to and signed, Technoblade ducked into locker one. He removed his armor, his weapons, his potions, and other such gear. He stored the keycard in his enderchest without even a cursory glance over it. As he walked out, Sam gestured to his crown. Technoblade shot back a challenging look.</p><p>“The crown stays with me. You can check it for traps, but it stays with me.” He offered Sam the crown for inspection. He took it with a soft huff and searched it for traps or hidden mechanisms. Finding none, he handed it back with a satisfied nod. The physical search was much the same: uneventful. The trip through security felt as though it should have been building up to something. Something important. A confrontation of sorts. But as he passed through the wall of lava, honey blocks squishing uncomfortably under his hooves, he found his destination less and less important. His reasons for coming, to satisfy his own curiosity and another’s fears, seemed anticlimactic. Even as he signed his lives away should something go wrong, it didn’t feel as monumental as it should have been. Though, perhaps, that was how things like this went.</p><p>“Does he know we’re coming?” Technoblade asked as he handed the last two signed books over.</p><p>“He will be able to tell someone is coming, but not who.” Sam frowned briefly, then searched through his pockets. “There’s something I needed to give him, but since you’re visiting,” he pulled out a clock and held it out to Technoblade. “Can I trust you to give it to him?” Technoblade glanced down at the clock and took it carefully.</p><p>“Sure.” He looked it over as he waited for the lava to fall, his weight on one foot. When the ceiling was visible, he took a few moments to marvel at the engineering of the prison before his gaze landed on the man in the prison cell. Even from this distance, even with the mask concealing his expressions, Technoblade could read his surprise from his stance. A smug smirk cracked across his face and he shifted his weight on his other foot, cocking his hip out. Dream had backed up, obviously thrown off by Technoblade’s appearance. Good. When the stone started moving across, he easily kept up with it. He strode across the lava, his smirk spreading into a grin. Technoblade’s blood sang with the voices in his head, their buzzing growing to a roar. Dream kept his distance as he approached, taking a few steps back from the netherite wall. He knew a dangerous animal when he saw one. His steps echoed around the small chamber. It was strange that the obsidian was cold, even as heat bloomed behind him as the lava dripped back down. When the netherite wall lowered, Technoblade stepped in, turned on his hooves, and grinned at Dream.</p><p>They stood in silence, their backs to the walls as they faced each other. If one took a step in one direction, the other followed in suit, effectively circling each other. As Technoblade looked over his old partner, his grin faded the longer he looked. Dream’s movements were less controlled, he noted. He could read Dream easily, guess his next steps, gauge his reactions, and even guess his expression beneath that cracked mask. Technoblade realized with growing concern that isolation was affecting Dream more than expected.</p><p>Dream eyed Technoblade, chewing his lip as they stood in silence. He discarded questions and tactics, already thrown off just from seeing Technoblade show up at all. The pigman didn’t strike him as someone who wanted to visit. Of all the times Dream visited him in the past, he hadn’t liked him around, hadn’t liked him just showing up out of nowhere. He tongued his teeth, pressing his lips together behind his mask, then casually shoved his hands in his sweater pockets. He tilted his head at Technoblade.</p><p>“Why are you here?” he asked bluntly, a twinge of annoyance sneaking into his voice. Technoblade snickered, enough to break the otherwise blank stare. “What?” Dream hissed, his teeth bared unseen.</p><p>“So straightforward!” Technoblade laughed some more before he regained his composure. His smile returned, at least briefly. “It looks like you’re losing your touch, being trapped in here. No quick wit and no <em>bite</em>.” He exaggerated the word, snapping his teeth together and flashing his tusks. The subtle tilt in Dream’s head told him that he was eyeing his tusks. There no fear scent—he’d never known one from Dream—but his caution was potent in the small space.</p><p>The two of them had faced off before many times over. The memories of each time left Technoblade’s blood roaring, the voices chanting, <em>begging</em> for more. It left him <em>exhilarated</em>. There was no creature, in the Nether nor Overworld, that was as dangerous as Dream. There was very little that could rival him, stand toe-to-toe with him and still have a chance to dare to be a victor. Tommy and Tubbo were lucky. They were infinitely <em>lucky</em> that near everyone they knew came to save them. There was only one person who could match Dream, <em>had matched</em> and exceeded him.</p><p>And he now stood in front of him.</p><p>“Well?” Dream prompted him. Technoblade hummed in acknowledgement, but didn’t answer. A low growl slipped out from behind Dream’s mask before he could stop it. The growl made Technoblade straighten, though he tried to play it off by shifting his weight to the other foot. “Why are you here?” Dream repeated, barely holding in his snarl.</p><p>“Oh, you know. To chat.” There was a pause, then he dug into a pocket and pulled out a clock. “Sam said to give you this too.” Dream eyed him, stepping forward to take the clock. He frowned at it as he turned it over in his hands. Why give him this? He glanced back at his other—</p><p>Oh. Right.</p><p>In a fit of sudden rage, he had thrown both the clock and one of the “novels” Tommy had ordered him to write into the lava. Sam had been… <em>busy</em> and was unable to get him another one for… a week? <em>More?</em> Time was already hard to tell in this world, let alone in the dark unchanging of the prison. Dream’s hands gripped the clock tightly, so tightly they began to shake. The gold and glass creaked as his fingers curved like claws. All his attention narrowed, focused on the clock. His rage boiled again, a snarl ripping through as his tight hold on himself loosened—</p><p>Hooved hands settled over his, interrupting his thoughts. Dream could feel Technoblade close, his chest rising and falling in slow breaths close to his face. Dream’s mouth was still bared in a snarl, his eyes wide and breath panting. Technoblade waited. Dream closed his eyes, allowing his breath to slow, his hands to settle. His mouth relaxed, hiding his teeth again behind his lips. His anger didn’t die out, but it settled. For now, he was settled.</p><p>“Allow me,” Techno whispered, taking the clock from Dream. There were holes in the gold where Dream’s claws had deformed it, but it seemed to still work fine. He hung it up, checking with Dream to make sure it was in the right spot. Afterwards, he stepped close to Dream again. Dream lifted his face up to Techno, afraid for the question that was sure to be on his tongue, but silently begging for him to ask.</p><p>“Take off your mask, Dream,” he said. Dream closed his eyes and started to step back. Techno let him, watched him move.</p><p>“No, no, Techno, you know I…” His hands clenched into fists, shaking again. “You know why I wear this, right? You haven’t forgotten that, right?”</p><p>“Intimidation?” Technoblade guessed, half a joke on his face. At Dream’s expression, he continued. “I know, Dream. So, you should know why I asked you that.” Dream tilted his head away, discarding responses and retorts. Finally, he undid the straps and removed the mask. The hair on the back of Technoblade’s neck raised at the sight of his eyes. They were always to first to turn when he removed his mask. Unnaturally green, the pupils thin and beaded like lizards he found in the jungle sometimes. He shifted his weight, his face blank as he watched Dream set the mask aside. He looked… not small, but vulnerable. Dream wouldn’t hide himself here, not in his presence.</p><p>Technoblade leaned in close, giving Dream a smirk. He kept his weight ready to jump back in case Dream snapped. He wouldn’t put it past him. He had done it before. Dream eyed him with his strange eyes, his expressions more open and readable now without the mask. Unnerving as all hell, though.</p><p>"There," Technoblade said with a small bit of mirth. "Now everyone can see your ugly mug."</p><p>Dream's eyes narrowed at him and he straightened. His lip lifted into almost a snarl, but then cool, collected Dream returned. He bounced back and forth on his heels, a slow smile forming. "With your face," he started, reaching up carefully. Technoblade watched his hand, waiting for the rest of his response. When Dream snatched the crown off Techno's head, he twitched in response. Dream glanced at it as he twirled it in his hand. "I think I'm just fine."</p><p>"You got a problem with piglins?" Technoblade growled, reaching to take the crown back. Dream flashstepped back half a step, just out of Technoblade’s searching hand.</p><p>"Nah. Just you." Dream rested the crown on his head and took a full step back. He twirled around on his toe, tilting his head with a grin at Techno. Technoblade could see his teeth turning now too, sharpening and filling his mouth too full. Finally, things were getting exciting. Dream stuck out his tongue, the fork in it more obvious now as the color changed to match his eyes. "Fitting, don't you think? I'd love to see you bow to me, for a change," he said, a snicker on his breath. Technoblade's gaze snapped up from Dream's mouth to the crown. The voices started buzzing in his skull again, sparked by desire blooming in his core.</p><p>"Bow? To you?" Technoblade threw his head back as he laughed. When he looked back at Dream, he found his gaze intense. Technoblade’s voice dropped into a threatening growl. "Not a fucking chance."</p><p>Dream hyperfocused on Techno, his eyes bright and grinning as he poked and prodded the tiger in its cage. He wanted to sink his teeth into Techno's flesh, taste the golden blood that sang to him, join his voice to the thousands filling Techno's skull until he reigned supreme.</p><p>The only noise in the cell was their breathing, their panting, each tasting the air to determine who was threat and who was fear. Who was predator and who was prey. Who would be king and who would be slave. Technoblade stepped forward and Dream echoed the step back. Another step forward and another step back, a dance each partner knew intimately. A giving of ground, a giving of trust. Dream felt the cold obsidian on his back, warming slowly outside in as lava dripped and popped around them. But still, he wore the crown.</p><p>“So,” Dream started, breathless as he tongued his fangs. “What was that about my bite?” Techno gazed down at him, his eyes glowing with a faint hint of red. Dream <em>knew</em> that look. And it took all his willpower to not drop to his knees and offer his own blood as sacrament. Technoblade tilted his head, gaze back on Dream’s mouth. He opened his jaws wide to show him. He knew Techno loved to see his mouth open, loved the teeth.</p><p>“Are those things even sharp enough to break skin yet?” Techno asked, not sounding convinced. The insult made Dream burn and he snapped his mouth closed, loud enough the sound echoed around the walls and back into his own ears.</p><p>“You want to find out?”</p><p>Dream saw his challenge alight something in Techno. He grabbed Dream’s chin and forced him to look up at his snarl. When he kissed him, it felt like a hurricane crashed into him. A giggly keen bubbled out of his chest as his lips caught and tore on Techno’s fangs. Dark blood smeared across their mouths and Dream felt his eyes roll back in delight. His hands clutched at Techno’s clothes, holding on as if it was the last thing grounding him to this plane. Techno’s tongue snaked past ruined lips, just under his teeth. Dream closed his jaw, the threat of a bite pressing down on the intruding presence. But Techno opened him up, exposing him for his pleasure. His tongue slid over ancient fangs that longed to sink into flesh, flesh with heart still beating, bloody, and struggling.</p><p>It felt like ages passed before they parted. When Technoblade moved away, Dream followed with a whimper. Dream watched, pupils blown wide from the dark depths of his desire, as Techno licked the dark blood from his lips. The intensity of Dream’s stare followed down his throat to watch his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed.</p><p>“It’s been a while since I last tasted your teeth,” he said, breathless from the kiss as well. Dream’s hands tugged Techno’s shirt free and burrowed beneath to warm against his skin. Techno’s breath hitched. Dream took this chance to urge him closer.</p><p>“More,” he whispered, he begged.</p><p>“Needy,” Techno teased with a laugh. He obliged and kissed him again, the hunger and voracity returning in full force. It had been. So long. Since he had touched someone else. Technoblade felt real, a grounding force that he had missed. The teeth in his flesh, the hands pinning his wrists to the floor, Technoblade’s breath labored above him. It was real. And Dream never wanted to let go.</p><p>But all things must come to an end.</p><p>Technoblade released his shoulder with an annoyed grunt, tilting his head to the side. Dream blinked his eyes open and gazed up at his partner. He heard the crackling static of someone talking to Techno.</p><p>“Yeah? Bruh, come o—” he growled softly, then continued in a calmer tone. “Alright, Sam. Give me a few more minutes, then I’ll be ready.”</p><p>Sam. Dream’s claws clenched around Techno’s sides, his body stiffening. Techno was leaving. He was leaving and Dream would be alone in the dark with his clock and his novels. Maybe for days. Or weeks. Or longer. A horrifying thought occurred to him, one that left him cold and shaking. Technoblade might never come back. Maybe this was a one-time thing. A last fling before he left him alone forever. Technoblade hissed in pain, flinching back from him.</p><p>“Dream,” he said, trying to pull him arm back. Dream’s claws went tight like a vice, breaking skin. “Dream!” Technoblade shouted.</p><p>“You’re not leaving!” Dream snarled, the second set of jaws falling in place. Technoblade snapped his fingers in front of Dream’s face, snatching his hand back before he lost it to Dream’s jaws. “You’re not-!”</p><p>“Dream,” Techno called again, softer this time. He cupped Dream’s cheek and waited until his strange eyes focused on him again. “I will come back. I promise. When I can get away, I will come and visit you. But you have to behave for the time being. If you claw me up, Sam might not let me back in. So please,” he motioned to the claws in his arm. Dream stared at him, panting, whining, then slowly retracted his claws. His gaze dropped away from Technoblade, guilt beginning to eat away at him.</p><p>“Hey, look at me.”</p><p>Technoblade watched as his partner lifted his gaze up. Dream’s hair was mussed up, his strange, strange eyes blinking openly at him. His mouth was closed and Technoblade could tell Dream was trying to hide his features again. Couldn’t let Sam see. He rubbed his thumb on Dream’s cheek, allowing a rarely soft expression to show on his face. “Beloathed,” he said. Dream’s tension softened a touch at the pet name. Technoblade knew he liked hearing it, liked being called those things. Technoblade had thought it stupid the first time Dream asked, but it grew on him over time. “I will come back. I promise.” He stood up and reached for Dream’s mask. He handed it back to Dream, coaxing him up to a sitting position. Dream hesitantly reattached the mask back on his face, then lifted his face up towards Techno.</p><p>Technoblade nodded with a firm nod, hid his arm in his robe, and called Sam. As he walked back across the lava, he glanced back at Dream. He was watching him, sitting just against the wall. Waiting for his next visit.</p>
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